Shell raising its 'level of aspiration' in chemicals - executive

14 March 2013 17:29[Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--Shell’s “level of aspiration” in chemicals is increased but the overall strategy to grow and add value to the energy giants’ gas and liquids feedstock streams is unchanged, new head of the business, Graham van’t Hoff, said on Thursday.

“We do aspire to grow this business significantly over time,” van’t Hoff, who is executive vice president of chemicals at Shell said.

Growth will be achieved by processing competitive feedstocks in world class assets, he added.

Chemicals are seen as a provider of materials and solutions as the world faces a significant increase in demand for energy and technologies to help tackle carbon emissions.

Shell expects energy demand to double globally by 2050 from an early 2000s base. It believes that global petrochemicals demand will double between 2010 and 2030.

Shell has major petrochemicals projects planned for the Middle East, China and North America, which are at various stages of progress, and has signed a memorandum of understanding for petrochemicals development in Iraq.

Van’t Hoff also sees considerable scope for extension of the production portfolio in Singapore and for new projects in the US where there has been a shift towards cracking more gas liquids feedstock.

“We are working on a lot of things in the US Gulf, van’t Hoff said. “We are looking to extend positions relative to our US Gulf portfolio.”

Van’t Hoff was chairman of Shell UK before re-joining the Shell chemicals business 10 weeks ago. “It’s an exciting time to come back into this role,” he said.